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Cricket News: Dropping David Warner a huge gamble – Ponting | Ricky Ponting backs David Warner for Old Trafford Test
On The ICC Review Podcast’s latest episode, former Australian skipper, Ricky Ponting, put forward his predicted Australia XI for the fourth Test. In the process, he backed David Warner for the Manchester showdown.
Ponting is of the opinion that the opener could score big anytime soon. Even with his matchup against Stuart Broad, leaving a player of his experience out with the Ashes on line could be a massive gamble.
Warner was dismissed by Broad twice in the previous Test. Broad has got the better of the left-handed batsman a stunning 17 times now in Test cricket. This, Ponting believes, is the major reason behind all the debate regarding Warner’s spot for the upcoming game.
“I know there’s been a lot of chat the last couple of days since the end of Headingley and it’s more the fact that it’s Broad that’s getting him out, I think. I think if it was anybody else, the noise probably wouldn’t be quite as loud, but the fact that he struggled to get through the opening spells of Broad a few times in this series again, makes it a little bit more of a worry.”
“And the reason I say that is because I’ve played against teams in the past and bowlers in the past where you just know that they’ve got the wood on you and they’re on top of you and you just can’t get away from it because if I’m Ben Stokes, even if David Warner gets through the first spell of Stuart Broad, then I’ll give him a short break and I’ll bring him back again,” said Ponting.
Bringing in new player over Warner can be a massive gamble, says Ricky Ponting
Keeping all that in mind, Ponting still wants Warner to be given another chance. According to him, it could probably be a mental block that is holding Warner back at this point, and not so much to do with his technique.
“When someone’s got you out 17 times, it does become as much a mental or probably more of a mental battle than it does a technical battle. But just thinking about the series, I’d be inclined to stick with David Warner,” he added.
Moreover, he was not happy with the lack of warm-up games for Australia. He made it clear that he has nothing against the inclusion of batters like Marcus Harris or Matt Renshaw. But, such players have barely played any first-class cricket in quite some time. Dropping an experienced campaigner like Warner for such players could backfire massively.
“With the lack of tour games for Australia, it doesn’t just hinder the guys that are out of form, but it actually hinders the other guys that are trying to push for a place into the side because they’re just batting in the nets every day and they’re not getting any match practice either.”
“If you’re going into the fourth Test match of an Ashes, with the Ashes on the line, do you bring a Marcus Harris or a Matt Renshaw in that simply haven’t played a game of cricket for, I don’t know how long since they’ve played a first-class game? Even if you did make the change, you’d be making a pretty courageous call to bring someone in that hasn’t been in the line-up,” added Ponting.
Can David Warner overcome the Stuart Broad threat?
Although Warner has scored just 141 runs in six innings so far this Ashes, the former Australian captain would want his side to stick with him. He thinks Warner could go on to score a big score if he sees out the new ball spell of Stuart Broad.
“Right now I’m probably more inclined to give David another opportunity and hope that he can get through Stuart Broad and go on and make a big score,” he said.
The legendary batter did not conclude without offering some advice to the struggling Warner. He talked about something he noticed about Warner and his reactions to getting dismissed by Broad.
Ponting, who himself was a master at mind games, knows that those wry on-field smiles from players are often an indication of them giving in to the pressure of the situation. He claimed that Warner seemed to have succumbed to the intensity and all the noise surrounding his matchup against Broad.
“I always talk about when you see guys smiling on the field, smiling for me, it’s almost a nervous reaction. You’re never happy to play and miss at one or you’re never happy to nick one to slip, but for some reason when guys are under pressure, it’s nerves that makes you smile.”
“I know when I was playing against players, as soon as they started smiling at me, I knew that I had them. You’ve just got to look at Warner’s dismissals in the last game and this sort of wry smile came on his face almost to say, you’ve done it again, you’ve got me again,” Ponting claimed.
He ended the chat on the batter saying that he would wish to see the version of Warner that he always knew, the incredibly competitive sportsman who kept fighting until the very end. With some of the starts Warner has gotten off to in the last few weeks, Ponting thinks a knock justifying Warner’s caliber is right on the cards.
“I’d like to see him go the other way. I’d like to see him show that real bulldog fighting spirit that he’s got. I think like he showed in the first innings of the World Test Championship, like he showed in the first innings at Lord’s where he made runs there.”
“I’d like to see him get back to that and if he gets back to that, I think with the way that I’ve seen him start in a couple of his innings, I honestly do feel a big score is just around the corner,” Ponting concluded.
In the same Podcast, he also mentioned that he would bring back Josh Hazlewood in place of Scott Boland, who has not tasted enough success in the Ashes so far.
Ricky Ponting’s predicted Australia XI for fourth Ashes Test at Manchester
1. David Warner, 2. Usman Khawaja, 3. Marnus Labuschagne, 4. Steve Smith, 5. Travis Head, 6. Mitch Marsh, 7. Alex Carey, 8. Mitchell Starc, 9. Pat Cummins, 10. Todd Murphy, 11. Josh Hazlewood
